Sold for: $22,500

PROVENANCE
Estate of the Artist
Private Collection, Alberta

LITERATURE
William Moore and Stuart Reid, Celebrating Life: The Art of Doris McCarthy, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1999, pages 84 and 178

Starting in 1974, one of Doris McCarthy’s favourite places to visit over many years was Newfoundland. In early trips, McCarthy traveled to the province’s isolated outports by supply boat, which was often the only way to access them. She desired to represent all of Canada in her work—from the Rockies to the Atlantic provinces and the North—and captured the unique essence of whatever location she painted. In Newfoundland, McCarthy takes a folk art approach in her style, depicting the elements of the scene with simplicity and clarity. Houses are reduced to their unadorned essentials—simplified walls, windows and roofs—with boats and boathouses painted in the same style. She communicates the warmth of these small communities – people greet each other on the path, while behind them, animals have a humorous faceoff. There is a remarkable stillness to the scene, in the motionless boat reflections, the suspended clouds, and the green glow of the hillside basking in the radiance of the sunny day.

Group of Seven member A.J. Casson called McCarthy “a remarkable woman who developed her own vision and stuck to it.” Later, art historian Jeffrey Spalding stated that McCarthy’s work “provided the link between the Group…in the twenties and thirties and the artists who emerged in the sixties.” Newfoundland expresses McCarthy’s revelatory sense of this special place.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars